SHRUBBERY AND SHRUBS 167 



slant. We must either be satisfied with bloom 

 somewhat interrupted, or we must greatly in- 

 crease the number of individuals planted. 



WTiich of these alternatives is chosen will of 

 course depend on the amount of space which 

 may be given over to shrubbery. A much larger 

 group numerically may be used than was pos- 

 sible under the old way of planting where every 

 shrub stood alone to give it room to grow into 

 a specimen. For a distance between individ- 

 uals of from two to three to four feet is ample, 

 the latter being a maximum that is rarely used 

 excepting along the edge of a border, or well in 

 the background where large shrubs are furnish- 

 ing the high growth. The general average 

 throughout a shrubbery mass should be from 

 two and a half to three feet. 



It has been my experience that this close 

 massing is more nearly an insurmountable ob- 

 stacle to the average planter than any other of 

 the innovations which gardening, treated as an 

 art, require him to accept. Perpetually the ob- 

 jection is raised that the individuals in a mass 

 will not do well; that they will be crowded 

 and lose their shape; that they will not show. 

 Not doing well I find usually includes the two 

 latter in its broad generality and is not a refer- 

 ence to the shrub's health and nourishment. 



